First of all, I don’t recommend reading Heart Sings as a standalone, read Heart of Gold first.
Heart Sings picks up in July 1899, with Thomas, Rachel and T.J. joining Jack in California and looking for the perfect place to settle. Building a house, finding their place among new people, navigating the patriarchal appearances with Thomas acting as the husband when in their private life, they’re as equal as can be… It’s a hard and demanding life but the little family is happy and full of love. Everything Thomas and Rachel have accomplished is endangered, however, when someone who knew Thomas as Thomasina turns up on the ranch.
Okay, I really like Rachel and Thomas, and I really like them as a couple, but I wish they’d learn to talk to each other and stop trying to protect each other all the time. Every time they get in real trouble, it’s because they didn’t trust the other to react wisely to the situation. Trust and communication, people! But they’re young still, I have faith in them, they’re learning.
As you can probably infer from what I wrote above, I had no trouble connecting to these lovely characters. I wish I could have heard Rachel sing, and I think I would love her sister Charlotte (who would exhaust me in less than a minute but still, she’s a real badass). The chemistry between Thomas and Rachel is still as powerful and leads to rather steamy scenes, including a quite unexpected but really hot one with a pioneer toy…
I definitely hope there will be more books in this series.
Jude in the Stars 